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The family of a 29-year-old man, who died after a rashly- driven truck hit the car he was driving, has been awarded Rs 16.68 lakh as compensation by a motor accident claims tribunal (MACT) here.

The MACT has directed HDFC ERGO General Insurance Co Ltd with which the offending vehicle was insured to pay the amount to the deceased's family comprising of his wife, two minor children, mother and unmarried sister.

"I am of the considered view that respondent 3 (insurance company) is liable to indemnify respondent 1 (driver of truck) and respondent 2 (owner of truck) and is liable to make the payment of compensation to the petitioner.

"I accordingly, grant a compensation to the tune of Rs 16,68,640 to all the petitioners (victim's family)," said MACT presiding officer B S Chumbak.

The tribunal's order came on plea by the family of the victim, late Sujit Kumar, who used to work as a driver.

According to the police, the Indica car driven by Kumar was hit by a rashly-driven truck near Ghazipur dairy farm here on November 28, 2011 afternoon.

The car was badly damaged in the mishap while Kumar got fatal head injuries and his body got entangled in the vehicle and a fire brigade rescue team had to called in to extricate his body from the wreckage, the police had added.

Kumar was rushed to the LBS hospital here, where he was declared brought dead. While the owner and the driver of the truck had argued they had been falsely implicated in the case, an eyewitness to the mishap specifically deposed that the accident occurred due to rash driving by the truck driver.

The tribunal relied on the un-rebutted testimony of the eyewitness to hold that the accident had occurred due to the rash and negligent driving.